Sky's End
by Vatrel
Summary: Domingo's completely lost his adventuring spark, and to rekindle it, he needs to find more exciting discoveries. But it seems his methods are very limited... Follow Domingo through his quest to see the world and everything in it!
1. Prologue, Broaden our Horizons

**Series/Game: Skies of Arcadia Legends.**

PROLOGUE - Broaden our Horizons

_X year, X month, X day_

My travels have once more brought me to the dark skies of the North Ocean. I don't know for how long I'll be staying, but I won't be leaving anytime soon, that's for sure. Sources say the legendary discovery the "Magical Ward" is located somewhere around these parts, between the lands of Ixa'Taka and Valua... But I've yet to find it. Since I'm running low on fuel, I'm currently staying at Gordo's Bistro to get stocked up on Moon Stones. Yeah, that fat old fella and I go way back. I'm treated as some kind of regular by now.

Since Gordo's a former Air Pirate (though a Black Pirate at that), he's being kind enough to spare a few Moon Stones for me. ... When is the food coming, anyway? I'm starving.

Domingo

"Sir... ...? Sir? Excuse me, sir!"

The flashy young waitress watched Domingo with a worried, yet slightly amused expression. The regular discovery hunter had fallen asleep in his well-used chair with his hand still grabbing a bottle of spicy loqua.

The tip of one of Domingo's long, black and pointy bangs got in his face, and he woke up with an annoyed moan. Scratching the back of his head with the telescope he always carried with him, he sat up straight and tried to get the sleep out of his eyes.

"Ugh... Now what?" he mumled, forgetting his manners completely.

The pretty waitress leaned towards his table with a friendly smile.

"It's closing time, sir. And you haven't paid the tab yet."

Domingo gave the half-eaten food on the plates a skeptical look and smiled back at the waitress.

"Sky sardis. Can't you think of anything more... uncommon nowadays? Eating this everyday, I swear, I'm gonna get poisoned."

The surprised waitress laughed at Domingo's comment, completely taken in by the young sailor's obvious charm.

"You're new here, aren't you?" Domingo remarked, slightly leaning towards her, still with that disarming smile of his. He certainly knew his ways.

The waitress immediately had to look away.

"Well... I'm trying to make a living..." she replied in a lower, more insecure tone.

Domingo stood up in his full length in front of her.

"Tell ya what... Instead of paying with gold, I can give you a kiss!"

The poor girl held the tray in front of her face and giggled delightfully.

"Sir, you're drunk!"

Domingo raised an eyebrow and watched her, playing offended.

"No, I'm not!"

He watched as the confused waitress ran away to her room, giggling and blushing like a school girl, and shook his head, making his long pony-tail fall over his right shoulder.

"Works every time. ... I think?"

Domingo decided that it was time to leave the bistro. For some reason, he didn't feel very clear in the head at the moment. _Maybe I drank too much loqua_, he thought to himself.

To Domingo's delightment, his ship had gotten enough fuel to last him for a couple of weeks or so. After quickly getting his bearings, he took off into the clouds.

Where would he search next?  
Where hadn't he searched yet?

Somehow, Domingo didn't feel the excitement of discovery hunting as usual. It had been like that for a couple of days now, and he got even more bored and frustrated because of it.

It got darker as time passed, and the North Ocean felt if possible even more empty and lonely. Domingo removed his telescope and got back to the small bridge of his ship. He laid anchor at a nearby isle and soon got into his hammock to sleep. But he couldn't even close his eyes.

"This feels like a daily routine nowadays", he mumbled to himself. "Eat, drink your eyeballs out, run from the tab, look around into nothingness... and sleep."

He let out a deep sigh.

"Nah. Cut out the 'sleep' part. Damn, I owe Gordo too much by now."

What was it that he had heard about the "Magical Ward", anyway? Nothing, except for its rather diffuse location. Something inside of him didn't even want to continue looking for it anymore.

"Could it be in a higher or lower altitude?"

No, that wasn't possible. No one could fly that high with a normal ship.

Domingo immediately sat up, causing him to almost fall off of his hammock.

"That's it!" he yelled, with increasing enthusiasm. "A ship that can raise and lower its altitude, almost all the way up to space and down to Deep Sky! If I can find something like that..."

His smile suddenly faded and he lay down again.

"And where would I find that? Stupid... I've never heard of something like that in my life."

He silently closed his eyes, listening to the humming sound of the ship's engine.

"... If I ask around at Sailor's Island, I might be able to get some information. Who knows..."

With that said, Domingo finally fell asleep, with at least some renewed hope for the morning after.

He woke up at dawn, feeling completely refreshed, which was a feeling that he had missed for long.

If he could fly above and beneath the clouds, maybe he wouldn't be able to find the "Magical Ward", but he would be sure to find something else. Just something, as long as he could get his so called "discovery spark" back.

With a bitter, yet slightly indifferent expression, Domingo set his course to the south, trying to convince himself that this time, he would get closer to what he desired the most - knowledge of all beyond. 


	2. Turtula Pole

**Disclaimer: Skies of Arcadia doesn't belong to me**

**1 - Turtula Pole**

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_X YEAR, X MONTH, X DAY_

I'm taking the passage south, which I know will lead back into the forests of Ixa'taka, a continent under the light of the Green Moon. It's a nice place, but I can't stay.

I'll continue south until I get to those nasty winds connecting Ixa'taka to the lands of the Red Moon, and then go east until I can turn all the way to the west. Man, traveling is serious business. I wish my ship could go through sky rifts. That'd be convenient. Convenient and neat.

... Maybe while I'm here, I'll grab some Garpa Fruits.

It was quite windy. The leaves were blowing towards Domingo's small ship as it approached the green lands of Ixa'taka. Domingo smiled to himself and got a tighter grip on the helm.

"Cranky today, aren't we...?"

Domingo was a skilled sailor, and his ship was very maneuverable. The winds were no problem.

To his left, Domingo spotted the great tree where King Ixa'taka had gone hiding about a year ago. That had to mean that the city of Horteka was due south from there - he only had to pass it and continue south.

"I'm glad I'm not staying", Domingo said to himself. "You get millions of splinters from all the _billion_ ladders they've got over there."

After a while, the rough winds seemed to have calmed down, so Domingo let one of his hands rest on the helm and took it easy for a while. That's something he would come to regret later - something powerful enough to reduce a man to bits hit the hull of Domingo's ship and immediately sent him flying into the wall. He got back up on his feet after quickly checking his shoulder for any possible injuries and maneuvered his ship in the opposite direction of where he had been shot.

He picked up his trusty telescope and tried to find out from where the cannon fire had come from.

"This is insane", he mumbled. "Why attack an unarmed ship as small as this?"

Domingo couldn't find any trace of another ship at the moment, so instead he moved his ship in between some cliffs and tried to find out where he was now.

"I've already passed Horteka by the looks of it... So that must mean I'm in..."

He suddenly flinched, and his hand flew to the door leading to the deck.

"... Ixa'ness territory!! The crazy bastards are boarding me!"

Domingo hurried out to the deck, only to find three small girls clad in leaves, thin fabrics and feathers, and with face painting all over. They were armed, but they looked pretty harmless.

Domingo smiled.

"Any particular reason for firing at my ship, um... ladies?"

The three tanned girls watched him for a couple of seconds, then faced each other with loud, girlish squeals.

"He's cute! Don't you think so, Pera?" one of them said in an overly enthusiastic tone.

"You're soooo right, Tara!" another one said.

"But I saw him first, I was the one who caught him off guard with my cannon fire!" the third one boasted.

The other two glanced at her.

"Lay off, Lira! What if you had killed him off?!"

Domingo didn't know which side he should take in this, or what he should say. Even though these highly peculiar girls had fired at him, he couldn't help but to be amused by their constant arguing. And it didn't hurt that they were fighting over him.

"Girls, girls", Domingo called out with a reassuring smile. "Settle down, will ya?"

Pera, Tara and Lira turned towards him and silenced. They gave each other a glance and snickered to themselves.

"You're coming with us", Tara declared to Domingo.

He faced her with bursting confidence, keeping the smile on his face. But he still kept in mind that they were armed.

"No can do, my dear", he replied.

Tara pointed an arrow at him.

"You're gonna marry one of us, handsome!"

Domingo couldn't imagine ever getting married to someone so young.

"Sorry, I have to decline. Marriage's not my thing, you see."

All three of them formed a crescent moon around Domingo, with their weapons pointing at him.

"Then we'll fight you for it!" Tara said with a large grin on her face. "If you lose, you're gonna have to marry one of us!"

Domingo shook his head with a sigh. What a bother.

"You're attacking me while I'm unarmed?"

The one called Lira frowned.

"You got a problem with that!?"

Domingo was just about to answer her when he heard an unnerving sound from the cliffs above them. And suddenly, he realized...

"Hey, midgets!" he called out to the Ixa'ness girls. "Don't tell me you just left your ship running when you boarded me?"

The girls didn't seem to understand what he meant at first, but when they did, they weren't given the time to answer. What seemed to be an earthquake rocked the boat and slightly tilted it to the left. Domingo looked up and saw the girls' ship crashed into the mountain, causing boulders and debris to rain towards his own ship.

"This... isn't good", Domingo stated obviously, pushing the "Ixa'ness demons" inside and grabbing the helm with his free hand. "Hang on tight!"

If they could just get the ship out of there, the surrounding cliffs shouldn't be a problem. But it was after all a small ship, and he extra weight made it slightly more difficult, along with the damage Lira had done with their cannons.

"I hope the engine's not injured", Domingo mumbled. Although he was completely focused on getting the ship away from the falling rocks, he started getting a little nervous. He hadn't dealt with this much in a long while.

The ship started tilting heavily backwards, and only desperately grabbing onto the helm stopped Domingo from falling.

"What's going on!?" Pera shouted.

"We're hit", Domingo calmly stated.

_Easy now, easy. It wasn't a big boulder._

But unfortunately, it hit right on the engine, causing the back to rapidly catch on fire.

"Now this is really bad!!" Domingo yelled over the commotion. He realized that they were going to crash. With a look over his left shoulder, he yelled to the girls behind him. "Grab on to something, and don't let go!!"

"I told you we shouldn't have ventured north!!" Lira screamed before the ship badly hit one of the cliffs and fell towards the deep forests below.

-----------

"What was that, Nuki?"

The red-haired woman called Nuki, as tanned as everyone else, looked up into the sky and watched the clouds rush by.

"I don't know, sister. It wasn't an earthquake."

The two sisters silenced and listened. The sound of falling boulders had stopped. They looked around with worried expressions.

"Nuki, do you think those rascals are okay?"

Nuki grabbed the helm so hard that her knuckles almost whitened through the tan. You could tell that she was angry. Worried and angry.

"They'd better be. They've caused enough trouble, and now they just disappear when it's hunting season?"

Nuki's sister nodded.

"They probably found a new man to kidnap."

Nuki turned the ship around with stiff movements, leading it out of the surrounding cliffs.

"Men are demons!" she said. "I hate them all, Keri-voo!"

Nuki rarely called her sister by her full name, but every time she did, it got Keri-voo a little anxious. It was best not to talk about men in Nuki's presence, after all.

After searching for another hour, Nuki had calmed down completely and was thinking more straight.

"Let's go down here", she mumbled, while lowering the ship into the lush forests. "Drop anchor, Keri."

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Birds were singing in the trees, crickets soon to accompany them, and tall grass was surrounding Domingo when he finally came to. His body was aching all over, and he couldn't feel his right arm.

He slowly regained consciousness after his head had stopped spinning and gasped for air when he felt the unbearable pain in his arm as he slowly sat up. He looked around - there were nothing but trees, rocks and grass around him. Everything was completely quiet.

"Now that was... uncalled for", Domingo quietly stated to himself.

He couldn't see Tara, Pera or Lira anywhere, nor could he see any leftovers of his ship. He must've been thrown off in one way or another. Maybe the Ixa'ness girls hadn't been as lucky as Domingo had been.

He sighed and stood up with stiff legs, his left hand grabbing the injury on his right arm. The black glove immediately got wet with blood.

"... Now what?" Domingo mumbled.

He was obviously very hurt, but he had no choice but to keep walking in one direction or another. He glanced up towards the sun and tried to find out just where he could be and where he should go.

"I probably got thrown further south... If I venture north, I might be able to find my ship."

He smiled.

"Or at least what's left of it."

Even though the wound in his right arm - that had probably been caused by a really sharp object - was pounding and telling him to stop, Domingo continued. After only a short while, he got a little dizzy and had to rip off a piece of his clothes for band aid. It wasn't much, but it kept the blood from gushing out.

The heat had made Domingo tired, and he had a hard time trying to breathe. Suddenly, he just stopped and had to take a look around.

"I must've walked in the wrong direction..."

Domingo was about to turn around and walk back when he recognized a certain sound among all the noises made by several animals - it was water.

Strengthened by the fact that he would be able to feel his throat again, Domingo continued south until he reached a grove where a brook was running. It was small, but it was water all the same.

Domingo took his time washing the wound. It wasn't really that deep, and he hadn't lost too much blood. After drinking some of the brook's pure water, he felt a lot more refreshed and could think more straight.

That was when he spotted it.

A large, rock-like thing was lying on the ground, defying the fact that it shouldn't be there at all. Domingo's discovery hunter instincts immediately took over - he just had to take a closer look at it.

As he got closer, he noticed the fine shape of the bottom, like it had been cut clean off. He walked further upwards and realized that it had to be some sort of pole.

Domingo smiled with excitement, and quickly climbed up the nearest hill so that he could get a better view. He could now see that this rock had parts that were shaped like animals.

Domingo clenched his fist.

"This... is the Turtula Pole... I can't believe it! I've looked everywhere for this!"

His excitement and joy made Domingo less attentive. Only seconds later, a spear had been brutally pointed at his back. A low, female voice spoke to him from behind.

"Stay still, foreigner, and don't utter a word. You're coming with us."

------------

MY FINGERS. OW.

I just had to make a remark on the ladders in Horteka. xD


End file.
